It was from this time (15th century), it is said, that the tradition of Kagami Biraki began. It developed as a folk Shinto observation with a particular class (Samurai) bent. Before the New Year Kagami Mochi, or rice cakes, were placed in front of the armoury to honour and purify their weapons and armour. On the day of Kagami Biraki the men of Samurai households would gather to clean, shine and polish their weapons and armour.

So powerful was the symbol of armour and weapons that even today links to these feudal images remain. Japanese households and martial arts Dojo often display family armour (family Kami), helmets or swords, or modern replica, displayed in places of honour. In front of these relics, sticks of incense are burned to show honour and acknowledge their heritage.

Women in Samurai households also placed Kagami Mochi, or rice cakes, in front of the family Shinto shrine. A central element (set in front of the Shrine) was a small round mirror made of polished silver, iron, bronze or nickel. It was a symbol of the Sun Goddess, but was also thought to embody the spirits of departed ancestors. So strong was this belief that when a beloved family member was near death, a small metal mirror was often pressed close to the persons nostrils to capture their spirit.

The round rice cakes were thus used as an offering -- in gratitude to the deities in the hope of receiving divine blessing and also as an offering to family spirits (and deceased family heroes). It was thought that this offering would renew the souls of the departed to which the family shrine was dedicated.

To members of Japanese feudal society mirrors thus represented the soul or conscience. Therefore it was considered important to keep mirrors clean since it was thought that mirrors reflected back on the viewers own thoughts. Thus the polishing of weapons and armour on Kagami Biraki was symbolically (from mirror polishing) seen as a method to clarify thought and strengthen dedication to Samurai obligations and duty in the coming year. Thus Kagami Biraki is also known to some as Armour Day.

This concept continues even today. When your Karate, Judo or Aikido teacher talks of self-polishing, of working on and perfecting the self and to reduce ego, the concept harkens back to the ancient concept of mirror polishing to keep the mind and resolve clear.

On Kagami Biraki, the round rice cakes (often specially coloured to represent regions or clans) would be broken, their round shape symbolizing a mirror and their breaking apart symbolizing the mirrors opening. The cakes were then consumed in a variety of ways. The breaking of rice-cakes (Kagami Mochi) on Kagami Biraki symbolizes the coming out (of a cave) of the Sun Goddess in Japanese mythology, an act that renewed light and spirit to the ancient world. Thus breaking apart the rice cakes each year on this date represents a symbolic calling out again of this life force and re-enactment of the (mythological) beginning of the world.

The Kagami Mochi are consumed. This is seen as an act of spiritual communion. It was believed that partaking of these cakes not only symbolized the renewal of the souls of their ancestors, but also the absorption of the spirit (or aura) Toshigama (also probably the Sun Goddess) to which the New Years season was dedicated. For this reason eating Kagami Mochi has always represented renewal, the start of the New Year and the first breaking of the earth or the preparation for coming agriculture. Thus consumption was a physical act of prayer, happiness and peace in the New Year in the spirit of optimism, renewal and good luck. The New Year was thus seen with hope, and full of fresh possibility, a clean beginning and opportunity for dedication.

There were also very human benefits. The sharing of rice cakes with family and clan members helped strengthen common ties and bonds of allegiance and friendship among warriors. Rice cakes also prepared the body for the New Year.

The New Year holiday was most often filled with drinking, celebration and eating ceremonial foods. On January 7, the body was first fortified with a special rice herbal concoction that was thought to cure the body of many diseases. Thus, by Kagami Biraki peoples bodies were ready for regulation and cleansing. Mocha was often eaten with different edible grasses for this purpose. It prepared people to resume a regular schedule.

The very rice consumed itself had symbolic meaning for the Samurai. Farmers once thought that rice having breath (actually breathing in the ground), thus giving rise to the concept of rice being "alive," (breathing in the field), and thus divine imbued with a living deity (Kami). On another level rice represented the very economic backbone of the Samurai society. It was given to the Samurai as a stipend in return for service and allegiance to his lord (or alternatively given control over land and peasants who produced rice) -- in a society where wealth and power were not based on currency, but on control of land which produced agriculture.

In recent years some people have reinterpreted the "Mirror Opening Ceremony" from a different viewpoint, Zen. In the book, Angry White Pyjamas - An Oxford Poet Trains with the Tokyo Police, the author Robert Twigger recounts as an interpretation of Kagami Biraki an esoteric explanation given to him by someone who had lived in a Zen monastery. The mirror, it was explained, contains an old image, for what one sees in the mirror is seen with old eyes. You see what you expect to see, something that conforms to your own self-image based on what you remember of yourself. In this way the eyes connect people with their past through the way they see their own image. This creates a false continual. Instead every moment holds potential for newness, another possibility for breaking with the old pattern, the pattern being just a mental restraint, something that binds us to the false self people call "me." By breaking the mirror one breaks the self-image that binds people to the past, so as to experience the now, the present. "This is Kagami Biraki," recounts Twigger, "a chance to glimpse the reality we veil with the mundane activities of day-to-day living."

I hope the above article has not only been an interesting read but also provides some understanding of one of the ceremonies rarely practiced by the west other than by a few Dojo that unifies us to the Samurai past we as Karate-ka have all evolved from. We are lucky to have our own home in the Elite Fighting Arts & Kyokushin Academy Dojo. With this in mind, lets continue the each year to create a Dojo that others envy, be a part of the future of your Dojo.

As Sosai testifies: "Kyokushin is the Karate, Samurai would be proud of." Budo Karate.

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